The 2010s held a lot of success for Oklahoma’s athletic program. With 12 national championships, seven football conference titles, two Heisman Trophy winners, a men’s Final Four appearance and four College Football Playoff appearances, the Sooners have had one of the most successful and balanced athletic programs of the decade.
SAMAJE PERINE’S 427 GAME–2014
The greatest rushing performance in college football history took place on a cold, rainy day in Norman when Samaje Perine put the Sooners on his back, rushing for 427 yards breaking Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon’s record one week after Gordon broke LaDainian Tomlinson’s record of 407 yards.
BAKER MAYFIELD’S FLAG PLANT–2017
Maybe the most iconic moment in Oklahoma football history, Baker Mayfield’s flag plant at Ohio State was one of the most controversial moments of his 2017 Heisman Trophy campaign.
OKLAHOMA-TENNESSEE 2015
As far as full games, the Sooners and Volunteers gave fans a rollercoaster ride and allowed Baker Mayfield to introduce himself to the world with help from Sterling Shepard. Down 17-3 at the half, Mayfield and company staged a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback, allowing Zack Sanchez to call game on a walk-off interception in double overtime.
BACK-TO-BACK HEISMAN’S–2017-2018
Done just twice before, Oklahoma joined Ohio State and USC as the only schools to win back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners and the first school to win back-to-back Heisman Trophies with two different quarterbacks. Baker Mayfield won the 2017 Heisman his senior year allowing Kyler Murray to take over the college football world in 2018. The duo also made history as the only pair of quarterbacks to be taken No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft from the same school in back-to-back years.
BACK-TO-BACK X5–2014-2019
Oklahoma owns the Big 12 with 13 conference championships and 49 conference titles in program history. However, the 2010s was one of the most dominant decades in Sooners football history. Oklahoma won seven titles and closed the decade with five straight Big 12 titles, leading to four College Football Playoff appearances.
TREVOR KNIGHT’S SUGAR BOWL–2014
Everyone thought Alabama was going to wipe the floor with Oklahoma. We all know the story. Plus Alabama was unmotivated, obviously.
BUDDY HIELD’S FINAL FOUR RUN–2015-16
With such electric play from beginning to end, it was hard to pick just one Buddy Hield moment. Hield’s senior season earned him the Naismith Trophy, joining Blake Griffin as the only Sooners to win the award. Leading the Sooners to their fifth Final Four appearance and first since 2002.
LAUREN CHAMBERLAIN WCWS GAME 1 WALK-OFF–2013
Patty Gasso’s Sooners were torching everyone in the softball world, cruising to the Women’s College World Series against Tennessee. Just weeks prior, Oklahoma had been ravaged with tornado after tornado, killing dozens in their wake. Playing with heavy hearts and an entire state behind them, Oklahoma won their first WCWS since 2000 with help from a game 1 walk-off homerun from Lauren Chamberlain.
SOFTBALL BACK-TO-BACK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS–2016-2017
After losing in the WCWS quarterfinals in 2014 missing the 2015 WCWS altogether, Gasso’s girls rallied to win back-to-back national titles in 2016 and 2017. The two World Series wins gave Gasso her third and fourth national titles as head coach.
MEN’S GOLF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP-2017
Oklahoma won their second men’s golf national championship in 2017 over Oregon at Rich harvest Farms, just outside of Chicago. The Sooners finished second in stroke play, earning the No. 2 seed in match play. Oklahoma beat Baylor 3-2, Illinois 3.5-1.5 and Oregon 3.5-1.5 en route to their first national championship since 1989.
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
To say Oklahoma is a gymnastics school is an underrated statement. Both the men’s and women’s programs have absolutely dominated college gymnastics.
The men’s program led by Mark Williams has two Nissen-Emmry award winners this decade in Steven Legendre (2011) and Yul Moldauer (2019), the gymnastics equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. From 2010 to 2019 the Sooners have won nine conference championships (2010, 2012-19), 14 individual NCAA champions and four consecutive NCAA national titles (2015-18).
The women’s program led by KJ Kindler has produced equally impressive stats. Maggie Nichols won the Honda Award in 2019 as just the third Sooner to win the award. Kindler has produced seven NCAA individual champions, nine conference titles (2010, 2012-19), 34 ‘perfect 10s’ over the past 10 seasons and four NCAA national titles (2014, 2016-17, 2019).
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]